Just over a couple of years ago, I decided to set myself the challenge of learning to drive. Up until this point, I hadn’t had a real need to drive or own my own car; my local area has always had excellent public transport links and I don’t travel within the UK a great deal; a car has always seemed like an unjustifiable cost to me.
The older I get, however, the more conscious I become of the fact that my parents are also ageing. Without being able to drive, visits to my mother in Herefordshire are limited to every few months or so (even less so this year, for obvious reasons) and while my father lives just a short drive away from me, I don’t get to see him as often as I’d like because I’m reliant upon public transport. Add to this the fact that I might be able to reach new clients if I could drive and I’d also have more freedom to explore the local area, both while at home and when travelling abroad, and learning to drive certainly seems like a wise thing for me to do right now.
Whether you’re an experienced driver or, like me, you’re new to the road and you’re just about to purchase your very first car insurance policy, there are several reasons to think about purchasing temporary day insurance over long-term vehicle cover. Read on to find out why it pays to consider temporary car insurance.
3 reasons why day insurance might be right for your car
Learner drivers can use day insurance to build upon their skills
I’ve been learning to drive for almost two years on and off now and as I haven’t bought my own car yet, it can be difficult to gain any additional experience beyond my driving lessons.
Thankfully, however, I’ve been able to take out temporary learner drive insurance policies that’ve enabled me to get some extra hours of driving practice by offering me day insurance when using my friends’ cars. Booking day insurance in this way makes for a quick, easy and cost-effective way to get insured to drive a vehicle you don’t own.
It can be useful if you need to use someone else’s vehicle temporarily
If you’re over 25 and you possess a full UK driving license and you have your own fully comprehensive car insurance policy, you’ll often be allowed to drive other cars (DOC) on a third-party only basis, without being named on those vehicles’ insurance policies.
However, the DOC feature is only intended for use in emergencies. In order to be insured on a fully comprehensive basis on someone else’s car, you’ll need to be a named driver on their policy.
If you don’t plan on using their car often or for a long time, it might make more sense to add yourself on as a temporary driver rather than on a permanent basis.
Day insurance is useful for test-driving a new car
When the time comes to buy a new car, no doubt you’ll want to take it for a test-drive before you part with a large sum of cash. However, even if your insurance policy includes the DOC feature, you’ll probably struggle to find a car dealer who will trust you enough to let you test drive one of their vehicles on a third-party only basis.
In these cases, it really pays to take out temporary day insurance so you can test drive your dream car. Some policies will allow you to arrange cover for an hour or two at a time rather than the whole day, which could work out considerably cheaper for you.
Have you ever bought day insurance for your car or someone else’s car? Share your advice with other readers by commenting below.